Definition of "ascetic" []

• A person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of austere self-discipline, especially as an act of religious devotion. (noun)
• Leading a life of self-discipline and self-denial, especially for spiritual improvement. See Synonyms at severe. (adjective)
• Pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic; self-denying and austere: an ascetic existence. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And yet there was a certain ascetic lengthening of the lines of his face."
• "The "simplicity of the ascetic" is usurped by "the simplicity of the madman that grinds down all the contrivances of civilisation"."
• "One of the most famous instances of the married ascetic is Tolstoy, whose later opinion was that the highest human being completely inhibits his sex-desires and lives a celibate life."